Smells from a Childhood Kitchen
What did your kitchen smell like when you were growing up? The aroma of ginger and brown sugar always takes me back to afternoons spent on a front porch or in my daddy’s lap. Once I smell jerk chicken, I’m my daddy’s special princess. And I can almost hear him laughing; it’s still the best sound that I know.
I can’t introduce you to my daddy. (You’ll meet him in the book.) But I can share with you a memory from his kitchen. He loved to blend our Jamaican heritage with other tastes and cultures. It was always a great day when my daddy cooked jerk chicken.
Do you still cook old favorites that are as much memory as food? Feel free to share a recipe in the comments.
You know, it’s a funny thing. Sometimes ginger mixed with allspice and brown sugar can also leave me feeling sad. In Atlanta, where I grew up, there was one thing guaranteed to make the ladies stop right there and then and fire their ovens up. If you’re from the South, you know exactly what I mean. Funerals meant a big spread, linking grief and pie and stews and heartache into one big smorgasbord of pain and comfort.
I still can remember biting into a drumstick the day my life changed forever. Remembering still hurts. You’ll learn why at the beginning of Karma Under Fire. For now, that’s just a little preview along with a recipe. But remember: jerk chicken is a perfect dish for happy times as well as funerals. I hope you love it like I do.
Karma Under Fire is full of tempting smells and tastes as I travel to India and visit its markets and street vendors and even meet a man who knows his way around the kitchen. Don’t you love that in a man?
So why not taste the book before you read it? More recipes to come!
Nathaniel Kennedy’s Jerk Chicken
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- Whole chicken, cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Combine first eleven ingredients with oil and toss with chicken. Add more cayenne pepper if you like it spicy. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator several hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake skin-side up sixty to ninety minutes until no longer pink, then broil briefly until the skin is crisp.